Pulse Rankdown: 1992 Year-End Alternative Chart (finished)

[Red]

A perfectly cromulent song. In these Alt rankdowns lately, that is enough to put a song bottom 20.

Not surprised that this song received a #1, either.

[peacebone]

Half of #60's four top 25s are top 15s, but neither are top 10. 12 top half ranks in total. Of its four bottom 20s, half are bottom 10s, and one's a bottom 5. One of the bottom 10s is a clearer.

(It's also the lower half of a tie. And since I didn't mention it, "Why" and "Teen Angst" were also tied.)

[peacebone]

Here's a song I wanted to like more than I actually did.

60

One Way
Levellers

Year-End Placing: #72
Chart Peak: #11
Chart Weeks: 8

1194 points

Standard Deviation: 23.38

House Lannister: 12
Alex1901: 14
@xfer: 24
Juanca: 25
Geometrical: 34
MoD: 37
Az Paynter: 38
Doc Indie Party Rock: 38
singingrulebritannia: 39
lyhom: 44
American Idiot: 44
commerce196: 50
Lordef†ones: 56
janinho: 58
Red: 58
craziaskowboi: 60
Daryl the Beryl: 60
rowellfarm490: 66
@doinktheclown: 70
peacebone: 70
campbellssoup: 79
Butterflies & Hurricanes: 81
Leaf: 84
wheatsquares33: 93
newpower: 97

Movements
87 70 59 60 59 55 59 59 65 56 56 56 58 66 63 64 67 64 58 62 64 64 62 60

Past Artist History
Debut

Tags (If you want to be tagged, make sure to let me know!)
Walking Contradiction
alexcuse
Albie
Sambalada

Remaining Songs

SPOILER: Click to show

One
Friday I'm in Love
Come as You Are
Far Gone and Out
Hit
Mysterious Ways
Tomorrow
Digging in the Dirt
Into the Fire
Under the Bridge
Caribbean Blue
Blood Makes Noise
Not Enough Time
Born of Frustration
The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead
Bad Luck
Midlife Crisis
Star Sign
High
The Life of Riley
Even Better Than the Real Thing
Helpless
100%
Drive
Nearly Lost You
Poison Heart
Ballerina Out of Control
Jeremy
A Letter to Elise
We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
Hunger Strike
Ripple
Pretend We're Dead
For Love
Girlfriend
Until the End of the World
Someday
Somebody to Shove
Love
Black Metallic
We Are Each Other
Haven't Got a Clue
Laid so Low
Always the Last to Know
A Small Victory
Face to Face
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Disappointed
Sheela-Na-Gig
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Twisterella
Lifetime Piling Up
Glamorous Glue
Happiness in Slavery
Through an Open Window
The Concept
NWO
Fear (Of the Unknown)
Cold Feelings

[Red]

I get that feeling, peace. I wanted to put this song top half and just couldn't, really. Tough, tough song to rank.

[peacebone]

Four people ranked #59 in their top 30. All of them are top 15s. Another four people ranked it in their bottom 20. Two are bottom 10s, one's a bottom 5. This song spent time in the bottom 15.

[peacebone]

I liked this song a bit more until I relistened to it for this rankdown.

59

Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
U2

Year-End Placing: #84
Chart Peak: #7
Chart Weeks: 9

1194 points

Standard Deviation: 25.36

campbellssoup: 6
wheatsquares33: 10
Juanca: 11
Lordef†ones: 11
newpower: 31
Doc Indie Party Rock: 37
@xfer: 40
Daryl the Beryl: 44
lyhom: 47
MoD: 50
American Idiot: 54
janinho: 54
craziaskowboi: 56
Az Paynter: 59
Leaf: 61
Butterflies & Hurricanes: 62
House Lannister: 65
peacebone: 65
Red: 69
rowellfarm490: 69
Geometrical: 71
@doinktheclown: 84
Alex1901: 86
commerce196: 93
singingrulebritannia: 96

Movements
71 88 79 79 70 79 77 75 70 73 72 70 70 65 59 61 66 68 69 64 62 57 58 59

Past Artist History
#19 Active 2001 (Elevation) | #21 Active 2001 (Walk On) | #26 Alt 2000 (Beautiful Day) | #29 Active 2002 (Electrical Storm) | #33 Active 1993 (Zooropa) | #34 Alt 2001 (Walk On) | #34 Alt 2009 (Magnificent) | #35 Active 1994 (Stay (Faraway, So Close!)) | #35 Active 2009 (Magnificent) | #36 Active 2000 (Beautiful Day) | #39 Alt 2001 (Elevation) | #41 Active 2005 (Vertigo) | #42 Alt 2002 (Electrical Storm) | #44 Alt 1993 (Zooropa) | #44 Alt 2004 (Verigo) | #55 Alt 1993 (Lemon) | #55 Alt 1997 (Staring at the Sun) | #57 Alt 1995 (Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me) | #57 Active 1995 (Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me) | #59 Alt 1994 (Stay (Faraway, So Close!)) | #62 Active 1997 (Staring at the Sun) | #64 Alt 1999 (Sweetest Thing) | #66 Alt 2006 (The Saints Are Coming w/ Green Day) | #68 Alt 2015 (Every Breaking Wave) | #70 Active 2005 (All Because of You) | #73 Alt 1997 (Last Night on Earth) | #74 Alt 2009 (I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight) | #75 Alt 2005 (Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own) | #78 Active 1997 (Last Night on Earth) | #78 Alt 2005 (All Because of You) | #81 Alt 2017 (You're the Best Thing About Me) | #84 AAA 2018 (Get Out of Your Own Way) | #86 Alt 2014 (The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)) | #87 Alt 1993 (Numb) | #88 Alt 1997 (Discotheque) | #88 AAA 2017 (You're the Best Thing About Me) | #89 Alt 2009 (Get on Your Boots) | #90 Active 2009 (Get on Your Boots) | #92 AAA 2018 (Love Is Bigger Than Anything in It's Way) | #96 Active 1997 (Discotheque)

Tags (If you want to be tagged, make sure to let me know!)
Walking Contradiction
alexcuse
Albie
Sambalada

Remaining Songs

SPOILER: Click to show

One
Friday I'm in Love
Come as You Are
Far Gone and Out
Hit
Mysterious Ways
Tomorrow
Digging in the Dirt
Into the Fire
Under the Bridge
Caribbean Blue
Blood Makes Noise
Not Enough Time
Born of Frustration
The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead
Bad Luck
Midlife Crisis
Star Sign
High
The Life of Riley
Even Better Than the Real Thing
Helpless
100%
Drive
Nearly Lost You
Poison Heart
Ballerina Out of Control
Jeremy
A Letter to Elise
We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
Hunger Strike
Ripple
Pretend We're Dead
For Love
Girlfriend
Until the End of the World
Someday
Somebody to Shove
Love
Black Metallic
We Are Each Other
Haven't Got a Clue
Laid so Low
Always the Last to Know
A Small Victory
Face to Face
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Disappointed
Sheela-Na-Gig
Twisterella
Lifetime Piling Up
Glamorous Glue
Happiness in Slavery
Through an Open Window
The Concept
NWO
Fear (Of the Unknown)
Cold Feelings

[Red]

I tend to have been kinder to U2 than most lately...but yeah, this wasn't very good.

[somelikeitwhen]

[peacebone]

Nobody loses a top 10 on #58, but three lose top 20s. Eight others lose top 50s. Nobody loses a bottom 10, but two people came close, and there's another bottom 20 in there. This song was as high as the top 25.

[peacebone]

meh

58

Even Better Than the Real Thing
U2

Year-End Placing: #26
Chart Peak: #5
Chart Weeks: 13

1206 points

Standard Deviation: 23.03

newpower: 12
House Lannister: 18
Butterflies & Hurricanes: 20
Geometrical: 27
campbellssoup: 29
Doc Indie Party Rock: 30
Lordef†ones: 35
Red: 36
peacebone: 40
Daryl the Beryl: 48
American Idiot: 48
Juanca: 52
craziaskowboi: 53
Az Paynter: 55
rowellfarm490: 57
@xfer: 62
singingrulebritannia: 64
MoD: 67
Leaf: 74
janinho: 75
@doinktheclown: 76
wheatsquares33: 78
commerce196: 84
Alex1901: 89
lyhom: 90

Movements
21 38 43 44 38 50 50 50 42 36 45 43 46 50 49 51 55 61 64 60 61 60 54 58

Past Artist History
#19 Active 2001 (Elevation) | #21 Active 2001 (Walk On) | #26 Alt 2000 (Beautiful Day) | #29 Active 2002 (Electrical Storm) | #33 Active 1993 (Zooropa) | #34 Alt 2001 (Walk On) | #34 Alt 2009 (Magnificent) | #35 Active 1994 (Stay (Faraway, So Close!)) | #35 Active 2009 (Magnificent) | #36 Active 2000 (Beautiful Day) | #39 Alt 2001 (Elevation) | #41 Active 2005 (Vertigo) | #42 Alt 2002 (Electrical Storm) | #44 Alt 1993 (Zooropa) | #44 Alt 2004 (Verigo) | #55 Alt 1993 (Lemon) | #55 Alt 1997 (Staring at the Sun) | #57 Alt 1995 (Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me) | #57 Active 1995 (Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me) | #59 Alt 1992 (Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses) | #59 Alt 1994 (Stay (Faraway, So Close!)) | #62 Active 1997 (Staring at the Sun) | #64 Alt 1999 (Sweetest Thing) | #66 Alt 2006 (The Saints Are Coming w/ Green Day) | #68 Alt 2015 (Every Breaking Wave) | #70 Active 2005 (All Because of You) | #73 Alt 1997 (Last Night on Earth) | #74 Alt 2009 (I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight) | #75 Alt 2005 (Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own) | #78 Active 1997 (Last Night on Earth) | #78 Alt 2005 (All Because of You) | #81 Alt 2017 (You're the Best Thing About Me) | #84 AAA 2018 (Get Out of Your Own Way) | #86 Alt 2014 (The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)) | #87 Alt 1993 (Numb) | #88 Alt 1997 (Discotheque) | #88 AAA 2017 (You're the Best Thing About Me) | #89 Alt 2009 (Get on Your Boots) | #90 Active 2009 (Get on Your Boots) | #92 AAA 2018 (Love Is Bigger Than Anything in It's Way) | #96 Active 1997 (Discotheque)

Tags (If you want to be tagged, make sure to let me know!)
Walking Contradiction
alexcuse
Albie
Sambalada

Remaining Songs

SPOILER: Click to show

One
Friday I'm in Love
Come as You Are
Far Gone and Out
Hit
Mysterious Ways
Tomorrow
Digging in the Dirt
Into the Fire
Under the Bridge
Caribbean Blue
Blood Makes Noise
Not Enough Time
Born of Frustration
The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead
Bad Luck
Midlife Crisis
Star Sign
High
The Life of Riley
Helpless
100%
Drive
Nearly Lost You
Poison Heart
Ballerina Out of Control
Jeremy
A Letter to Elise
We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
Hunger Strike
Ripple
Pretend We're Dead
For Love
Girlfriend
Until the End of the World
Someday
Somebody to Shove
Love
Black Metallic
We Are Each Other
Haven't Got a Clue
Laid so Low
Always the Last to Know
A Small Victory
Face to Face
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Disappointed
Sheela-Na-Gig
Twisterella
Lifetime Piling Up
Glamorous Glue
Happiness in Slavery
Through an Open Window
The Concept
NWO
Fear (Of the Unknown)
Cold Feelings

[Red]

A good, solid U2 song. Not one of the best in this RD, but good enough.

[Juanca]

Some good memories in this set of extras:

- Stay (Shakespear's Sister): YAASSSS!!! I would've ranked this in my top 5. It was one of my top 2 songs of 1992, and one of the fastest songs to reach the top of my personal charts --it got there in its 3rd week. It was also one of two songs that stayed atop for a month, the longest that year (the other song is in this RD). This was a song I loved from the first time I heard it during the 30-minute show presenting the UK's Top 40 songs of the week, broadcasted as a UK import in one of our rock radio stations. I really loved the pure, tender almost acapella first ~90 seconds, the shift to the more sinister and rocker bridge, and then the return to the more tender vocals, but in a stronger, let-loose way with stronger music behind. The vocals, lyrics and production -and video- were spot on. This was a surprise hit, especially considering that Siobhan Fahey was an ex-Bananarama. They had another top 5 in my personal chart that year with I Don't Care that I thought could've been in the Modern Rock charts as well, but seems it didn't.


- Lithium (Nirvana): Another strong rock song off Nevermind that I'm surprised didn't peak higher in the weekly chart. The combination of soft verses and strong choruses plus the melodic post-chorus, typical of Nirvana, worked pretty well here. It would've made my top 40 inhan it been included in this RD.

- On A Plain (Nirvana): Not as strong as Lithium, but still a good, more traditional sounding rock song.

- Heavy Fuel (Dire Straits): Despite not being as great as the Brothers In Arms singles, this was a good tune that kept some of the classic Dire Strait sound and quality. It was better than the debut single Calling Elvis. The strongest track in my personal chart was The Bug, though


- Silent All These Years (Tori Amos): This ws a song that I felt had a promising verse, but then it got very samey-samey and didn't go anywhere. She's done much, much better.

[peacebone]

If you've been doing well in this rankdown, you will probably not be happy about #57. Four people lose top 20s, with nine more top 50s going down. Six bottom 20s, and only one's a bottom 10 - but it's also a bottom 5. This song spent quite a few lists earlier on in the top 40, even going into the top 30 a few times, but once it was tanked back into the bottom half, it never returned.

[peacebone]

Five songs by U2 on this list...and this song manages to be a better U2 song than all of them. Sorry this was too obscure for some of you

57

Through an Open Window
Cliffs of Dooneen

Year-End Placing: #92
Chart Peak: #10
Chart Weeks: 7

1210 points

Standard Deviation: 26.83

peacebone: 13
singingrulebritannia: 15
@doinktheclown: 20
commerce196: 20
MoD: 23
Red: 30
lyhom: 32
@xfer: 33
Az Paynter: 34
Lordef†ones: 39
campbellssoup: 41
wheatsquares33: 41
Alex1901: 44
Doc Indie Party Rock: 58
rowellfarm490: 61
American Idiot: 66
janinho: 67
Geometrical: 75
craziaskowboi: 78
Daryl the Beryl: 82
House Lannister: 84
Juanca: 84
Leaf: 88
newpower: 90
Butterflies & Hurricanes: 97

Movements
64 40 31 27 32 27 36 39 50 55 51 55 59 55 65 68 64 62 61 55 58 58 61 57

Past Artist History
Debut

Tags (If you want to be tagged, make sure to let me know!)
Walking Contradiction
alexcuse
Albie
Sambalada

Remaining Songs

SPOILER: Click to show

One
Friday I'm in Love
Come as You Are
Far Gone and Out
Hit
Mysterious Ways
Tomorrow
Digging in the Dirt
Into the Fire
Under the Bridge
Caribbean Blue
Blood Makes Noise
Not Enough Time
Born of Frustration
The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead
Bad Luck
Midlife Crisis
Star Sign
High
The Life of Riley
Helpless
100%
Drive
Nearly Lost You
Poison Heart
Ballerina Out of Control
Jeremy
A Letter to Elise
We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
Hunger Strike
Ripple
Pretend We're Dead
For Love
Girlfriend
Until the End of the World
Someday
Somebody to Shove
Love
Black Metallic
We Are Each Other
Haven't Got a Clue
Laid so Low
Always the Last to Know
A Small Victory
Face to Face
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Disappointed
Sheela-Na-Gig
Twisterella
Lifetime Piling Up
Glamorous Glue
Happiness in Slavery
The Concept
NWO
Fear (Of the Unknown)
Cold Feelings

[Red]

I had a feeling this wouldn't make the top half because of the artist being fairly unknown. That's a shame, because this was a really solid first listen.

[peacebone]

The last reveal of the night shouldn't be all too upsetting. The 15th lowest SD, nobody ranked it top 20 (and there's only one more song that can be said for). 12 top 50 ranks, the highest is its only top 25. Nobody went for a bottom 10 here, and only three went for a bottom 20. Despite all of that, this song actually spent time in the top 25!

[peacebone]

This song was really nice

56

We Are Each Other
The Beautiful South

Year-End Placing: #62
Chart Peak: #10
Chart Weeks: 10

1214 points

Standard Deviation: 20.09 (15th lowest)

House Lannister: 21
Alex1901: 26
Butterflies & Hurricanes: 28
Juanca: 29
newpower: 30
singingrulebritannia: 31
@xfer: 34
Leaf: 40
peacebone: 41
Doc Indie Party Rock: 41
craziaskowboi: 45
@doinktheclown: 49
Lordef†ones: 55
American Idiot: 55
campbellssoup: 56
lyhom: 57
janinho: 63
Geometrical: 68
commerce196: 69
rowellfarm490: 70
MoD: 72
wheatsquares33: 80
Red: 81
Az Paynter: 83
Daryl the Beryl: 87

Movements
24 21 20 41 40 46 52 56 49 44 43 48 49 54 52 49 51 60 52 54 53 52 52 56

Past Artist History
Debut

Tags (If you want to be tagged, make sure to let me know!)
Walking Contradiction
alexcuse
Albie
Sambalada

Remaining Songs

SPOILER: Click to show

One
Friday I'm in Love
Come as You Are
Far Gone and Out
Hit
Mysterious Ways
Tomorrow
Digging in the Dirt
Into the Fire
Under the Bridge
Caribbean Blue
Blood Makes Noise
Not Enough Time
Born of Frustration
The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead
Bad Luck
Midlife Crisis
Star Sign
High
The Life of Riley
Helpless
100%
Drive
Nearly Lost You
Poison Heart
Ballerina Out of Control
Jeremy
A Letter to Elise
We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
Hunger Strike
Ripple
Pretend We're Dead
For Love
Girlfriend
Until the End of the World
Someday
Somebody to Shove
Love
Black Metallic
Haven't Got a Clue
Laid so Low
Always the Last to Know
A Small Victory
Face to Face
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Disappointed
Sheela-Na-Gig
Twisterella
Lifetime Piling Up
Glamorous Glue
Happiness in Slavery
The Concept
NWO
Fear (Of the Unknown)
Cold Feelings

[Red]

Aug 3, 2019 18:59:46 GMT -5 Red said:

A perfectly cromulent song. In these Alt rankdowns lately, that is enough to put a song bottom 20.

And that's my bottom 25 cleared. I'm two songs away from clearing my bottom 30, as well. One of them still being in surprises me a bit.

[peacebone]

Tonight's extras begin with a bang - another cut from the Singles soundtrack (and one that would unsurprisingly be higher for me than either of the two that made it on):

EXTRA

Drown
The Smashing Pumpkins

Chart Peak: #24
Chart Weeks: 4

Share your thoughts about this song below!

[peacebone]

Ahh, Curve...basically Garbage before Garbage. Great stuff.

EXTRA

Horror Head
Curve

Chart Peak: #23
Chart Weeks: 5

Share your thoughts about this song below!

[peacebone]

We could have ranked a second Live song in their final retro year:

EXTRA

Pain Lies on the Riverside
Live

Chart Peak: #24
Chart Weeks: 6

Share your thoughts about this song below!

[peacebone]

I don't like this nearly as much as "Girlfriend". Cool fake ending, I guess.

EXTRA

Divine Intervention
Matthew Sweet

Chart Peak: #23
Chart Weeks: 3

Share your thoughts about this song below!

[peacebone]

The lone Billboard charter for perhaps the most seminal grunge band that isn't one of the big 4:

EXTRA

Suck You Dry
Mudhoney

Chart Peak: #23
Chart Weeks: 6

Share your thoughts about this song below!

[peacebone]

Is having at least one huge pop hit per each set of extras a given now? #1 in five countries, #11 on the Hot 100, and top 10 in a bunch of other countries. The final major release of their legendary career.

EXTRA

Justified and Ancient
The KLF f/Tammy Wynette

Chart Peak: #21
Chart Weeks: 3

Share your thoughts about this song below!

[peacebone]

*tries not to gush*

One of the bigger names in the original shoegaze scene gets their shot at being ranked in 1991:

EXTRA

Mesmerise
Chapterhouse

Chart Peak: #21
Chart Weeks: 4

Share your thoughts about this song below!

[peacebone]

Nowhere near as big of a commercial success as "Stay", only charting in the UK (and only getting to #32 there):

EXTRA

Goodbye Cruel World
Shakespear's Sister

Chart Peak: #22
Chart Weeks: 3

Share your thoughts about this song below!

[peacebone]

It's always bizarre seeing songs that get loads of recurrent play on Alt radio to this day not having much of an impact in their day:

EXTRA

Even Flow
Pearl Jam

Chart Peak: #21
Chart Weeks: 6

Share your thoughts about this song below!

[peacebone]

The only charter for this Californian singer-songwriter:

EXTRA

Sorry About the Weather
Mark Curry

Chart Peak: #20
Chart Weeks: 4

Share your thoughts about this song below!

[peacebone]

The lead single on his 17th album:

EXTRA

A Dream Like Mine
Bruce Cockburn

Chart Peak: #22
Chart Weeks: 5

Share your thoughts about this song below!

[peacebone]

It's still shoegaze, but this one heads in a decidedly different direction from "Black Metallic":

EXTRA

I Want to Touch You
Catherine Wheel

Chart Peak: #20
Chart Weeks: 5

Share your thoughts about this song below!